Community Health Worker Support to Lower Blood Pressure After a Pregnancy With High Blood Pressure

Eclampsia, Gestational Hypertension, HELLP Syndrome, Postpartum Hypertension, Preeclampsia, Pregnancy-Associated Hypertension, Stage 2 Hypertension

Community health worker, Postpartum, Blood pressure, Self-measured blood pressure monitoring, Cardiovascular disease prevention, Life's Essential 8, Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, Alabama, Primary care linkage

High blood pressure during or after pregnancy (such as preeclampsia, gestational hypertension, eclampsia, or Hemolysis, Elevated Liver enzymes, and Low Platelet (HELLP) syndrome) raises a mother's risk of heart disease later in life. Many patients do not return for follow-up care after delivery, missing a key window to protect their heart health. The Alabama Womb to Heart Solution (AW2H) trial will test whether pairing postpartum patients with a trained community health worker (CHW) for 6 months lowers blood pressure compared with usual care. A total of 174 postpartum patients who had pregnancy-associated hypertension or stage 2 high blood pressure will be randomly assigned (1:1) to usual care or usual care plus the AW2H CHW program. All participants receive education on measuring their own blood pressure and a pregnancy-validated home blood pressure monitor. Participants in the CHW group are also contacted regularly by a CHW for 6 months. CHWs coach home blood pressure monitoring, support taking blood pressure medications as prescribed, encourage heart-healthy habits based on the American Heart Association's Life's Essential 8 (LE8), help schedule a primary care visit, provide mother-baby education (such as safe sleep and immunizations), and offer emotional support. The main outcome is systolic blood pressure 6 months after enrollment, measured at home with the study-provided monitor while a research coordinator observes in person or by video/phone. The study will also look at diastolic blood pressure and whether participants scheduled a primary care visit. Interviews and focus groups will explore participant, CHW, and provider experiences with the program.

This is a single-site, two-arm, parallel, randomized controlled efficacy trial conducted at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), building on the Alabama Womb to Heart Solution (AW2H) feasibility/acceptability pilot (NCT06353256, N=61). Postpartum patients with pregnancy-associated hypertension (gestational hypertension, preeclampsia, eclampsia, hypertension with superimposed preeclampsia, or hemolysis, elevated liver enzymes, and low platelet count \[HELLP\] syndrome) or stage 2 hypertension (systolic blood pressure \[SBP\] \>=140 mmHg or diastolic blood pressure \[DBP\] \>=90 mmHg) are randomized 1:1 to usual care or usual care plus a 6-month community health worker (CHW) intervention delivered in partnership with ConnectionHealth. Usual care (both arms) includes brief self-measured blood pressure education, a pregnancy-validated iHealth blood pressure (BP) Cuff Kit (provided through partnership with the Preeclampsia Foundation), and written education on hypertensive disorders of pregnancy and long-term cardiovascular risk. The CHW intervention adds visits or contacts approximately 2 times per week for weeks 1-5, weekly for weeks 6-12, and monthly for weeks 13-26 (in person or virtual), covering home BP monitoring coaching with American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG)-concordant escalation guidance, medication adherence, postpartum and pediatric visit reminders, breastfeeding and contraception counseling, Life's Essential 8 behavior coaching, primary care linkage, mother-baby education, and trauma-informed emotional support. The primary outcome is mean systolic blood pressure at 6 months post-enrollment (mean of 3 readings taken 1 minute apart with the validated iHealth monitor, following a protocol adapted from the Chronic Hypertension and Pregnancy (CHAP) Maternal Follow-up Study). The trial provides 80% power to detect a 7 mmHg difference in SBP (standard deviation \[SD\] 14.5, two-sided alpha=0.05) with 138 participants; enrollment of 174 allows for 20% attrition. Analysis follows intent-to-treat principles. Aim 2 comprises qualitative interviews (up to 20 intervention-arm participants) and two focus groups (CHWs/ConnectionHealth leadership; healthcare providers) analyzed thematically to inform future implementation.

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